hardship

Noun

• something that causes or entails suffering
  • I cannot think it a hardship that more indulgence is allowed to men than to women- James Boswell
    
  • the many hardships of frontier life
    

• something hard to endure
  • the asperity of northern winters
    

• a state of misfortune or affliction
  • debt-ridden farmers struggling with adversity
    
  • a life of hardship
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  asperity , grimness , rigor , rigour , severity , severeness , rigorousness , rigourousness , adversity , hard knocks